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Alleged gigolo killer had 'vampire' written on hand, court told

Mark Russell

When detectives spoke to a notorious career criminal nearly three years after the murder of a self-proclaimed "vampire" gigolo, the word "vampire" was written on his hand, a court has heard.

The criminal would later confess to having shot Shane Chartres-Abbott twice with a .357 Magnum revolver and implicate three other men in the cold-blooded murder.

Detective Sergeant David Leveridge told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that he and another detective visited the criminal on May 18, 2006, to discuss his co-operation with authorities.

Asked if the criminal had shown him his hand with the word "vampire" written on it, Detective Leveridge said he could not specifically recall him doing so but did not dispute it happened.

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The criminal is the key witness in the trial of Mark Perry, 46, Evangelos Goussis, 46, and Warren Shea, 42, who have pleaded not guilty to murdering Chartres-Abbott on June 4, 2003.

The Crown case against the three men is that the shooting of Chartres-Abbott, 28, as he left his Reservoir home was an act of revenge.

Chartres-Abbott had been on trial in the County Court at the time for the rape and mutilation of Mr Perry’s ex-girlfriend at a hotel in Prahran.

The woman had been found naked, bloodied and unconscious in the hotel room, with evidence of strangulation, of having been beaten and bruised with bite marks over her body and part of her tongue ripped out.

A male escort who had both male and female clients, Chartres-Abbott had previously told the woman he was a 200-year-old vampire who no longer drank blood because he was living in the real world.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Tinney, SC, said Mr Perry had contacted Mr Shea, who met with the killer who agreed to kill Chartres-Abbott.

Mr Goussis was allegedly with the killer, who cannot be named, when the killer shot Chartres-Abbott dead in broad daylight in front of his girlfriend and her father.

The three men were allegedly guilty of murder because they had been involved in a joint criminal enterprise to kill Chartres-Abbott.

Before gunning down Chartres-Abbott, the killer allegedly told Mr Shea: ‘‘He is an animal and a piece of shit and deserves to go. Consider it a favour.’’

The crime remained unsolved for several years until the killer told police in 2006 about his involvement, and implicated the three accused.

The three men say the killer cannot be believed, is an inveterate liar and that they were not involved in any way in the murder.

Mr Tinney told the jury that the killer was a lifelong criminal.

‘‘He has got numerous criminal convictions for all sorts of crime, including murder,’’ Mr Tinney said.

‘‘He is a man of very poor character, as he himself will admit," he said.

‘‘It is an absolute certainty that his credit will come under very strong and justifiable attack in cross-examination by defence counsel.

‘‘Suffice to say, it will be the central issue in this case whether you should be prepared to accept and act upon the evidence of [the killer].’’